isthisthelasttime | Fic: My Sacrifice by learnthemusic

Title: My Sacrifice
Author: learnthemusic
Rating: PG-13
Pairing/Characters: Rory/Jess, Chris, Matthew, mentions of Logan
Warnings: Spoilers through 'The Real Paul Anka', Original Characters, Sexual Situations, Episode Dialogue
Summary: My continuation to 'The Real Paul Anka. "I like the old you, but I miss the old you." "He comes out of hiding every once in a while." Continuations have never been so sweet.
Author's Note: Hey you guys! I’m finally writing the one shot about The Real Paul Anka. So, I have nothing to say and no background information is needed. Season six and the rest of the show/episodes have gone exactly the same. Nothing is different until Rory leaves Truncheon. That’s all. Chris is the name of the black guy. It really is. Not trying to be racist.

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"All I’m saying is: control your poet," Chris said, standing on one side of the stair’s railing.

"So suddenly he’s my poet," Matthew stated indignantly.

"He changed up on us. He wasn’t supposed to premiere new material tonight," Jess backed.

"It wasn’t bad," Matthew defended.

"It was rambling," Chris stated.

"It was a little rambling." Matthew admitted.

"And what was that whole part about desiring Golda Meir?" Chris asked.

"Please, please tell me that was symbolic," Jess pleaded, agreeing with Chris.

"I’ll talk to my poet," Matthew relented and walked towards and out the door. Jess stared out across the room, to find Rory sitting on a stool, a book in hand.

"Hey, we’re hitting that bar that we are not going to call ‘Cedar Bar Redux.’ You coming?" Chris interrogated, following Jess’ gaze.

"Yeah, maybe. You know, go on ahead. I’ll catch up." Jess didn’t tear his gaze away from Rory’s back and a look of confusion dawned on Chris’ face, but he ignored it and left.

Once Chris had gone out the door, Jess walked over to Rory, caught a look at the book she was reading and pulled up a chair next to her.

"You know, you don’t have to read it again." Rory looked up at the familiar voice and smiled, shutting the book.

"I know I don’t."

"God, there are so many things I would change about it," Jess told her.

"Like what?" she asked, slightly surprised at how he seemed to hate his own book. But then again, it was Jess. He tended to be unpresumptuous.

"I’d keep the back cover. Everything else goes," he informed, moving his hands across the air in a sweeping motion.

"You know I love your book," Rory said simply and sincerely.

"Why?"

"It doesn’t remind me of anything. It’s not a rip off. It’s just you." Jess moved his chair closer to hers and hit her knee softly with his hand.

"High praise, Miss Yale Editor." Rory smiled.

"Yeah, well, I don’t get to write as much as I would like. I’m mostly assigning, and motivating, hand-holding and rewriting."

"Yeah, and you love it, every minute of it. Come on, tell me you don’t," Jess said, smiling. Rory smiled back.

"I do. I do love it. It’s exciting."

"Yeah, you look happier than when I saw you last."

"I am."

"So, you fixed everything?" he asked, waving his hands for emphasis.

"Yeah, everything’s fixed." Jess moved closer to her and leaned in.

"I’m glad you’re here," he whispered. She leaned forward as well, laying his book next to her.

"Yeah, me too." They lean closer to each other and their lips meet in a slow kiss. For a moment, Rory forgets about Logan and focuses on his lips. The kiss starts to heat up and Jess runs his hand up her thigh to the small of her back, pulling her closer. Rory obliges and they sit, kissing, for a minute until Rory pulls away, taken aback. She presses her palms on the leather on each side of her before getting up.

"I’m sorry," she whispers inaudibly.

"What?" Jess asks softly and confused.

"I’m sorry," Rory says louder, turning to face him. Jess walks up closer to her.

"About what?"

"Uh, about coming here like this. I just got the flier, and I don't know. I just wanted to see your place, but then this... it's not fair to you. I'm such a jerk," she cries and she lets her arms hang at her sides.

"I don’t know what you’re talking about."

"And I couldn’t even cheat on him the way he cheated on me," she said, ignoring him, to herself.

"Who? Who cheated on y— that guy?" Jess asks angrily and he sighs. Wiping a hand over his lips, it dawns on him and he says, "Ah, you’re still with him."

"Yeah," she whispers, looking away from his face to the floor, avoiding his glare.

"I thought you said everything was fixed," He says this firmly and Rory looks up at him sadly, but she was slightly mad at herself.

"Everything but him."

"I hate this," he says furiously.

"You should. I’m sorry," she says sincerely.

"You came here alone. To Philadelphia," Jess confirmed and a look of hurt flashed over both of their features.

"He was out of town," Rory informs him simply.

"I don’t deserve this Rory." Their eyes connected when he said her name and Rory began to feel something she hadn’t ever since he’d left. He said her name beautifully. Right then, she would’ve given everything up for him. She would.

"No, you don't. You don't deserve it. I just... I'm in love with him. Despite all the bad he's done, I can't help it. I'm in love with him," she says the last part softly, hoping he won’t hear. Because despite everything, she still loves Logan but she hates him too. But, deep down, she still has feelings for Jess. Because he’d always believed in her, no matter what.

"Love, huh?" he asks, pained. And she has to be in love with the dumb ass, he thinks.

"Yeah," Rory confirms softly.

"I guess I’ll call Matthew’s poet, have him explain love to me. Poets are supposed to know all about it right?"

"They’re supposed to," and they slowly ease back into their usual banter. "Well, I—I guess I better go," she states reluctantly.

"Okay," Jess said stoically.

"I’m so sorry that I came here." Tears filled Rory’s eyes as he sighs and says:

"I’m not. It’s what it is, you…me." Jess sighed and continues, "Where’d you park?"

"Um, I’m right outside." Rory starts towards the door but steps back when she hears his voice.

"Hey, if, uh, if it makes you feel better, you can always tell him that we did something."

A tear escapes Rory’s eyes and she sniffles. "Thanks, Jess." He nods and watches as she leaves his life, once again.

So he stands there, like the idiot he is, waiting to see if she’ll do the opposite of leaving and turn to him for once. But, it’s not like she ever does. When they had a problem when they were dating she’d turn to Dean. When he showed up to ask her to come away with him, which was not his intention, she turned to Dean. When he tried to make her have sex with him, which was not his intention, she turned to Dean. Dean, Dean, Dean. Now it’s Logan, Logan, and Logan.

Damn.

But he stood there until he thought she was far enough away before he left to the bar.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Rory leaned against her car with her back to the passenger door. Her body faced Truncheon books; her feet stood on the curb.

She was shaking with sobs and she couldn’t calm them down. In her mind’s eye, she could see herself kissing Jess; and she hated herself for it. She hated that Logan cheated on her, she hated that she had to ‘take’ him back, that she had to pull away from Jess. That she let Jess leave her back in November.

Sighing, she tried to stop her tears. She pawed furiously at her face and shut her mouth, but a sob still escaped.

Rory’s head popped up when she heard the front door of Truncheon Books open and she stood up straight to turn and face the street. But Jess still caught her.

"And she’s still here," Jess said to himself under his breath as his feet led him to where she stood. "Hey," he said softly, suppressing his desire to touch her in any way. She didn’t turn around. "Are you mad at me?" He could see her shake her head, so he took that for a good sign.

"There’s no way I could be mad at you," she whispered. Rory turned to face Jess. He refrained from reaching out to wipe away the tears that still streamed down her face and was about to ask her what was wrong, but she stopped him. With the move he’d used to put on her.

She kissed him deeply and cupped his face. As Jess succumbed to her ministrations and started to kiss her back, Rory broke their connection abruptly. She turned her back on him and faced the street once again.

"Rory, you can’t do this," Jess began, furiously. "You can’t just kiss me and be angry at me. I didn’t come over here for this. I didn’t even expect you to be here. But since I saw you, I just wanted to apologize…" She began to drown him out right then. Apologize? She didn’t need or want him to apologize. She was okay with the fact that he kissed her. Rory just wasn’t okay with the fact that she stopped the kiss.

Sighing inaudibly, she turned her attention to a lighted window across the street. She watched shadows move behind the curtain, as they appeared to be setting a table. A few seconds later the couple seemed to be engaged in a full on lip-lock and she was jealous. She averted her gaze and listened to the low mumbling his voice had become.

She had to make a decision. She wasn’t totally sure what the decision had to be about but she knew it included Logan, Jess and herself. Finally, she came to a conclusion.

Rory turned around to face Jess, but, to her dismay, he was gone. And she wasn’t even sure where he’d gone. She had remembered him and his partner talking about a bar and he mentioned that he’d been on his way over.

Then it hit her. She had no clue where the bar was.

But Rory went with her first instinct and walked up to Truncheon Books. After standing in front of the door, wiping her face, she tried the doorknob to find it unlocked. Walking into the store, she was met with the homey scent the room possessed. It reminded her slightly of Jess’ smell. Sure, the store wasn’t exactly his, but he must have contributed something to it.

Rory looked deeper into the office-turned-store to find him sitting with his side facing her on a couch.

She strode to where he sat as discretely she could but failed when he turned his face to see her. He sighed inaudibly and shut his book.

"Can I help you?" Jess asked with as much faux politeness he could muster.

"I’m sorry," Rory told him tearfully. "I shouldn’t have done that out there…I don’t exactly regret it though," she added softly. This caught his attention and his face softened slightly.

"Why not?"

"Because… Just because I said I love Logan doesn’t mean I’m over you, Jess. I’m not," Rory admitted painfully. She turned away from him, facing the door, and wiped away the tears that just escaped.

Jess got up and approached her slowly. Just as she turned to face him, they collided, almost knocking Rory down.

"Sorry," he muttered, holding her up by the elbow.

"It’s okay," she said, turning her head to the side. Jess nodded and took his hand off her elbow. "I just don’t want us to end here," she continued without a trace of tears in her voice. "We aren’t over," she whispered, looking up at him. Jess’ chocolate brown eyes softened and he inched closer to her. "We aren’t." He smirked at her and hesitated before putting his hands on her waist. Rory also hesitated as she placed her arms on his shoulders and entwined her fingers in the hairs located at the back of his neck.

"This is slightly weird," he mumbled, still smirking.

"Yeah. It is… But it feels…" Rory trailed off.

"Right."

"Actually, I was going for natural, but that’s good too." Rory smiled and took back one of her hands to wipe her face.

They leaned in simultaneously and connected their lips for the third time that night. Jess held her closer as if he was afraid she would break the kiss again, but she didn’t. They stood like that for five minutes before Jess began to lead them to the couch. Rory laughed as they landed ungracefully and Jess hit his head against the hardback book he’d been reading earlier.

"Evil, evil woman," he growled and he smirked before cupping her cheek and silencing her with his lips.

"And you call me evil," she said in between kisses. Jess put his hand on the back of her head, under her hair, and pulled her lips closer.

After another ten minutes of heated kissing, they broke the kiss and rested their foreheads against each other’s.

"I missed that," Rory stated shyly, a hint of a blush creeping up her cheeks.

"Me too," he admitted.

"Just admit it. You missed me," she teased.

"Why don’t you? You were the one that came back here. You must’ve missed me."

"I did. At least I admitted it, unlike you," she sat up slightly and poked his chest with her finger.

"Okay, fine. I missed you. Happy?" he confessed.

"Yes, but you should be happy that you were finally able to tell me you missed me. Aren’t you?"

"Will it make you happy?" he joked.

"No, Jess. Please? Tell me you’re happy," Rory pleaded. Jess smiled and kissed her quickly.

"I’m happy."

"Thank you." Rory leaned down and kissed him sweetly. "What time do your partners slash roommates slash friends slash publishers get back?" she asked after pulling away. Jess groaned.

"Why’d you bring them up?"

"I was wondering. They may be worrying about you." He shook his head.

"They don’t. I’ve told them not to. They’ll know when it’s time to worry."

"Thank you, Mr. Atticus Finch," she said firmly, but teasingly.

"You’re very welcome." Rory sighed happily and entertained herself by fingering the black blazer he wore.

"Since when do you wear nice jackets?" she wondered out loud.

"Never. Just today. Special occasion today was."

"Today’s still not over. We still have…" Rory took this time to pull up his left sleeve and look down at his silver-colored watch. "Three hours and twenty two minutes."

"Great… So, what now?"

"What do you mean?" she asked him innocently.

"Rory," he warned.

"I don’t know," she overlapped his voice softly at the first syllable of her name.

"Well, we can’t just—"

"I don’t know, Jess. Can we figure this out later?"

"Rory, we’re cheating on your boyfriend," he stated bitterly.

"You seemed fine with that a few minutes ago."

"I know, but I can’t get the fact that you’re with Logan out of my mind, Rory."

"I don’t know, Jess," she said softly, looking down at his chest. Jess sighed and put a hand on her chin, lifting her face.

"I just don’t want this to end up horribly," he told her softly. Rory nodded and sighed, leaning into his touch.

"I don’t either. That’s why I haven’t told you what I planned to do yet."

"What?"

"Will you promise not to get mad or anything of the sort?" Jess nodded. "Well, this is it. I’m going back to Yale and I’ll ride out the rest of the year with Logan. It’s only a month and I can’t break up with Logan, because if I do I’ll end up having to move in with Paris. And trust me, you would not want me there. Sure, I may be using him, but it’s for my own benefit. Plus, it’ll be really hard for me to study for finals after having broken up with a boyfriend I’ve dated for over a year." A beat.

"Good game plan. I just hate that you have to cheat on him, Rory," he admitted. "What if he finds out?" Rory shook her head.

"He won’t. He can’t. First of all, he’s going to be gone for at least another week or so. That just makes it one less week of him not being able to find out." Jess nodded.

"After finals?" Rory bit her lip.

"I was wondering if, maybe, I could spend the summer with you?" she asked slowly. Jess smiled and nodded.

"Of course." She smiled back at him and kissed him sweetly.

"Jess?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you mind if I don’t leave until morning?" Jess shook his head.

"I’d like that."

"What’ll your friends say?" He shook his head again.

"Nothing. I have my own apartment. I don’t live here. They do." Rory nodded.

"Good."

"So, you hungry?’

"Starving," she answered immediately. He smirked.

"What’re you in the mood for?" Rory contemplated for a second.

"Um, I think I’m in the mood for…tacos, no, burgers. No, definitely tacos."

"Taco Bell it is. Now, could you please get off my chest?" Rory blushed and nodded, getting up promptly. As Jess stood and fixed his jacket, Rory did the same with hers.

Slinging an arm around her shoulder, Jess led her over to the desk shoved in the corner and picked up a set of keys, along with a wallet that had been stuffed in a drawer. "I’m guessing I almost left this here."

"Tsk, tsk." Rory smiled and pulled on his arm. "Jess, I’m hungry," she whined.

"Hey, don’t rush me," Jess warned as he led her towards the door.

……………

"So this is your apartment," Rory stated as Jess pulled her into his apartment an hour and a half later. The living room she found herself in was expansive. It had three bookshelves lining the light blue walls, a twenty-four inch television, a regular-sized coffee table that was strewn with books, and a lengthy black leather couch. "I love your living room," Rory awed.

"There’s still more." Jess pulled on her hand and led her towards the kitchen.

"You have that Senseo coffee maker?" Jess nodded. "What are you? Rich? God."

"Jealous?"

"Of you? No. The coffee maker? Absolutely." Jess smiled and set the take-out bag of tacos on the tiled counter.

The walls of the kitchen were colored a darker blue than the ones in the living room, the cabinets were of a dark-colored wood, and the countertop tiles were black. Rory looked down at the floor to find that the kitchen, living room, and the hallway that led to a room or two was all in light gray tile.

Rory sat on a stool at the counter and pulled out a taco from the bag. "I love tacos," she said through a stuffed mouth. Jess turned to look at her and smirked.

"We just left Taco Bell at least fifteen minutes ago and you’re already eating?"

"I haven’t eaten a thing since breakfast," she whined.

"Well, that’s your fault isn’t it?" Rory nodded but continued her taco.

"I love your apartment," Rory gushed after she finished her taco.

"Thanks." Jess leaned against the counter opposite the one she sat at. "I love it too." Rory stood up and walked into the kitchen area. She stood in front of him and wrapped her arms around his neck then kissed him longingly. As he put his hands on her hips and pushed her closer to him he found himself thinking about one of the things he had never done with her. Which was, inevitably, sex. And he didn’t exactly think it was right to do it now anyway. But apparently, she thought the opposite.

Rory’s hands were under his blazer, at his shoulders, trying to thrust it off, and he found himself struggling with the buttons on the front of her grayish jacket. Both jackets were on the floor in no time and Jess cornered Rory in between the counter she had been sitting at and him. He wasn’t one that liked to be led.

Jess’ mouth latched itself onto her neck and sucked lightly. When he heard her moan he got back in control and slowed their pace down.

"Rory," he whispered, pulling away from her neck. He pressed a kiss to her cheek and took two steps away from her. "We can’t do this."

"Jess."

"No. We can’t just do this like this. You’re still with Logan. We just found each other again. We can’t go and do this on our first night together. You know that." Rory frowned and nodded.

"I see what you mean," she whispered, a light blush making its way up her cheek, and she looked down at the floor. She wrapped her arms around her body as she remembered that her jacket was no longer on her and that she was in only a black tank top. "Sorry."

"It’s okay. I got it to go this far too." Jess stepped towards her and wrapped her in his arms. Her arms wrapped themselves around his waist and he tucked her head under his chin. He took in a deep breath and smelt the faint scent of vanilla and apples. Smiling he rubbed his hands up and down her back trying to warm her up.

"Who are you and what have you done with my old Jess Mariano?" Rory asked, stepping out of his embrace.

"He’s in here somewhere."

"So you admit it. You’re different."

"Yes."

"I like the new you, but I miss the old you," Rory whined.

"He comes out of hiding every once in a while."

"You have multiple personalities?"

"Apparently," he smirked. "What do you want to do?"

"I want to get a start on all those new books," Rory said after a moment’s thought, pointing in the general direction of the living room.

"You have the summer for that."

"What else are we going to do?" Jess looked at his watch.

"We will go to bed. You can sleep in my room; I’ll take the couch. It’s pretty comfortable."

"I’m not putting you out of your room. I’ll take the couch."

"You’re a guest, you deserve a bed. I love my couch," he stated simply.

"Well, we can just, um…sleep together. In the literal sense," she added when he wiggled his eyebrows. Jess thought about this.

"I don’t know if we can do that."

"Why not?"

"It would be weird," he answered.

"Jess, please. We both have to leave early tomorrow and I’m not putting you out of your room. It’s either that or you give me the couch." Jess sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"Fine. But you better not put up rules. Like not being able to do this." He demonstrated by kissing her and running his hands up and down her sides.

"Or that we can’t snuggle. Got it. I won’t." Jess smiled and kissed her again.

…………………

"Can I take this shirt with me?" Rory asked the next morning as she got out of the bathroom with his Red Hot Chili Peppers t-shirt.

"Which one?" Jess asked from the kitchen.

"Red Hot Chili Peppers," she said as she entered the kitchen to find him laying a stack of pancakes on a plate. "You are a god!" she exclaimed, running to the stool and grabbing the fork and knife that he’d put next to her plate.

"Why do you want that shirt?" Rory smiled through a full mouth. "Close your mouth please." Jess stepped around the counter. She took in his appearance and saw that he’d change from a pair of sweats and a t-shirt to a pair of nice-fitting jeans and a button-down gray shirt.

"You look nice," she managed to say after swallowing.

"Thanks. Now, why do you want my shirt?"

"Because I dream of Californiacation?" she tried.

"Rory," Jess warned.

"To have something of yours until I come back," Rory said this as if it were a normal occurrence.

"Won’t Logan find it?"

"Jess."

"I’m just asking. You live with Logan remember?" he said bitterly.

"He won’t find it. I’ll have it hidden. He doesn’t go through my drawers." Jess rolled his eyes and walked to his room. He returned running a belt through his pants’ loops. "Don’t be mad."

"Who said I was mad?" Jess turned on the Senseo and leaned on the counter propping himself up with his elbows.

"Jess," Rory whined. She put down her fork. "Please, just forget about Logan. He’s going to be done with once summer rolls around. I promise. He won’t find the shirt or anything of the sort," she pleaded. Jess nodded.

"Okay, if you say so."

"I do."

Half an hour later, Jess and Rory stood in front of his front door, arms wrapped around each other, both having mixed feelings.

"I don’t want to go back to school."

"I’d tell you to stay but you only have finals left. You can endure it." Rory smiled sadly and kissed him deeply.

"I wish you still lived in Stars Hollow or some place in Connecticut." Jess sighed.

"I’ll miss you," he whispered, kissing her neck.

"Me too." Finally pulling back, he kissed her on the forehead and stepped back from her.

"I’ll call you."

"Everyday," she added.

"You have to call too."

"I will." They stood kissing for a few minutes, neither wanting to let go. "I’ll miss you a lot," she said between kisses.

"Same here." Jess pulled back and stepped back from her. "Go on, get outta here." Rory smiled and kissed him chastely.

"Bye," she said as she walked out the door, t-shirt slung over her shoulder.

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Three A.M?

Jess sighed and rolled over in his bed. It was a Friday. Early morning. Three weeks and two days since their last encounter. He counted the days left until she would be in his arms again. He wished she’d left something of hers so he wouldn’t miss her as much. The weird thing was that he found himself missing her less than when she wasn’t in his life. He didn’t want to feel like that. He wanted to miss her more because he now had her.

He was finally the good one.

Jess sighed heavily and got out of his queen-sized bed. Looking around his room he saw what a mess he’d made in the past few days. But it didn’t take away the room’s magnitude.

The room was of white colored walls that were lined with two more ceiling-high bookshelves. He had a short brown dresser, with no mirror, on the opposite side of the bookshelves. A brown nightstand was located next to his bed strewn with a pile of books, an alarm clock and a handful of change. There was a large walk-in closet across from his bed, the door of it ajar.

Clothes were hanging on the side of his bed, shoes were jammed under and around the bed, socks were thrown casually over the lampshade, a t-shirt stuck out of a bottom drawer, and his blankets were twisted every which way.

He didn’t exactly know why he couldn’t sleep. It wasn’t like he was feeling sick. He wasn’t hungry. He wasn’t in a reading craze. He was just tired.

Then it hit him why he couldn’t fall asleep.

Rory hadn’t called that night. They hadn’t talked at all since Wednesday night. Not a word was exchanged since their elongated ‘good byes.’ Jess bit his lip, let out another heavy sigh, and walked out of the room.

Walking into the kitchen, his body was met with coldness and he remembered he’d only slept in a pair of boxers. Shaking his head at his stupidity, Jess opened the refrigerator to see if anything in there appealed to him. A carton of milk, a half pound of ham, two packs of sliced cheese, whole wheat bread, a package of lettuce, a bag of tomatoes, a sack of apples, loose oranges, a small bag of grapes, and a container of strawberries stood in front of him. He sighed. He was too much of a health nut. With all the healthy food in that refrigerator, he seemed like a girl that was desperate to lose weight.

Jess shut the door to the fridge and walked over to the pantry. It was pretty much scarce except for two boxes of Cheerios, a box of Corn Pops, a box of fruit and granola bars, two bags of cheesy Ruffles, twenty-four bottles of Dasani water, and an unopened apple juice. So it wasn’t empty. He still had to go shopping.

He didn’t even bother opening the freezer. There was no way he was going to eat a pint of chocolate ice cream as a midnight snack. Or a frozen chicken. That was all that was in it anyways. He really needed to go to the Wal-Mart Supercenter.

Jess smiled as he remembered the time his uncle found out he was working at Wal-Mart. A gigolo? Come on.

A frantic knock at the front door brought Jess out of his reminiscence, and he sighed for the millionth time that night.

"You better consider yourself lucky, Matt. I’m not usually up at three in the morning. Did Gabby dump you again?" Jess called as he reached the door. He unlocked three different locks and opened the door. His breath caught in his throat.

"Rory?" he asked softly. She bit her bottom lip and wiped a few tears from her face.

"Can I come in?" she whispered. Jess nodded and stepped aside to let her in. Jess shut the door after her then led her over to the couch.

"I’ll be right back," he said, kissing her forehead sweetly before walking to his room. He returned pulling a shirt over his head and he sat down next to her.

She cried quietly, not even shaking, fiddling with the hem of her dark blue denim skirt.

"Are you okay?" Rory sniffled and turned to look at him.

"He found out," she whispered. Jess looked over her quickly to see she was wearing a red, short-sleeved, collared shirt. As her words registered, he stiffened.

"What?"

"He found out." Rory shifted and faced him.

"How?" he asked arduously.

"Well, I’ll start this from the beginning, okay?" Jess nodded. "I was at Lane’s and Zach’s wedding."

"They got married?"

"Yeah. So, I was at their wedding and mom got really, really drunk. Luke wasn’t back from April’s trip and mom asked dad if he would be her date, so they went together and mom drank a lot, but this is besides the point. We had brought mom home and I was in the kitchen when my phone rang. I answered it and some receptionist told me Logan had been in an accident and was being transferred to some hospital in New York. I can’t remember which one it was right now. So I told my dad that I was going to New York before Logan got there and he said he’d stay with mom.

"Well, I got to the hospital and after wrestling the receptionist to tell me where he was I finally found him. And he was absolutely horrible. They said he had a few broken ribs, contusions, and a concussion along with a bunch of other stuff. And I felt guilty for the way I treated him the days before he left. And I shouldn’t have but I did."

"You never told me Logan had been in the hospital."

"Well, I didn’t exactly want to bring him up. He’s kind of a sore subject between us." Jess nodded. "Logan was in the hospital for another week, and we’d sort of gotten past the fact that he cheated on me, you know. So we were good.

"I’d left my cell phone at home yesterday. It was a total accident and apparently he found it. I got home around five, after working at the paper for a while, and he was just sitting on the couch. He looked murderous. He was twirling something around in his hands. I greeted him and he just stayed silent. I went to sit next to him and I asked him what was wrong. Wordlessly, he handed me my phone. And I asked him again what was wrong.

"Then he started to yell at me. He listened to my voice mail." Jess took in a sharp breath.

"I’m sorry," he said.

"It’s okay. It’s not your fault. Logan doesn’t usually invade my privacy unless he has to. So, I guess yesterday was a day he had to. He yelled about making him feel guilty about cheating on me and that I was cheating on him with writer boy. He asked me if I denied it and I just stayed silent. Because I wasn’t going to lie about you, you know. So he asked again and I said I didn’t deny it. He got furious and stood up to throw some things around. After he calmed down, he told me to pack all my things and leave. That he didn’t need me cheating on him. That what he did was justified because we weren’t together. That he could go on without me. So I did. I was pretty happy to leave. I just couldn’t get over the fact that we were over, you know. You don’t get over a disastrous relationship easily even if it was exactly that. We were together for a year. So it didn’t exactly hit me what I was going to do until I was halfway to Stars Hollow. I decided that I could just come here. I just have one final left and that’s on Monday. I can spend two days here, leave Sunday, and come back on Tuesday." Rory sniffled and wiped away the remaining tears from her face. Jess smiled sadly and pulled her into his arms.

"It’s going to be okay. We’ll make this work," he mumbled into her neck. She smiled and wrapped her arms around his waist.

When they pulled out of the embrace, Jess kissed her longingly. The kiss intensified and they fell back onto the couch, Jess on top of Rory. As he trailed kisses down her neck, Rory sighed happily.

"Jess." Jess looked up at her. "I love you," she whispered. Jess smiled and kissed her on the lips deeply.

"Me too," he mumbled into her mouth. Rory smiled and began to play with the hem of his t-shirt. Jess pulled back abruptly. "Rory."

"Jess, come on, we can do this now. It’s not like I’m tied down to anyone but you, you know."

"But—"

"We love each other don’t we?" Jess nodded. "Okay then." Jess got off the couch and ran a hand through his hair. Rory watched him idly from her position and she smiled at his way of making decisions.

"Are you absolutely sure about this?" he asked timorously. Rory nodded. "Okay." He extended a hand for her to grab and pulled her up. Jess kissed her passionately and she responded with as much fervor.

"I missed you," she said in between kisses.

"Same here." Jess led him backwards, through the kitchen, up the hallway and into his cluttered room. As he laid her gently on the bed, she giggled. "What is wrong with you?"

"You’re turning mellow," she teased, smiling. Jess rolled his eyes and smirked, kissing her soundly. She pulled back and looked into his eyes.

This was right.

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(A/N) So, I’m done. This was a very long one-shot. There will be a sequel to it as soon as I develop it. I hoped you liked this and please review. Sorry for any and all mistakes. Review, I beg you.